Marks of the Church

Pastor’s Epistle—August, A.D. 2015 B

Every Sunday morning, Lutheran congregations, along with Christians of every stripe throughout the world, confess our shared faith in “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” At times, visitors have been confused by this. The Apostolic church is on the south side of town, after all. And isn’t the Catholic church 15 minutes up the highway?

In a world full of denominations, divisions, and schisms, it becomes easy to forget that Christians really do believe in “one body and one Spirit … one hope … one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4). Despite our disagreements, all Christians are members of the one mystical Body of Christ; thus we are compelled to seek greater visible union in order to reflect the invisible union that we already share in the Lord.

The Church is Holy not in the sense that Christians are good people—we are, in fact, sinners gathered together in need of forgiveness and healing—but that the Church is set apart to do the work of Christ in this world. The Church is Holy not because we are, but because the Holy Spirit chooses to dwell within us, even in our wounds. The Church is Catholic (which means “universal”) because it can be found wherever faith in Christ is lived, throughout every age and place. And the Church is Apostolic because we all share in and pass along the same faith that Christ first entrusted to His Apostles for the world.

To confess that the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic is a great leap of faith. Thankfully, despite centuries of conflict and misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit has revealed to faithful Christians the world over that the One Who unites us remains so much greater than the arguments and circumstances that have divided us. This is not to say that doctrines and denominations are unimportant—there are good reasons why we are Lutherans—but Christ is so much bigger than our institutional organizations. The Body has been divided, but the Spirit still unites us as one.

Luther wrote that despite all the charges and challenges leveled against Christianity, the unity of Jesus’ people still shines through in what we call the “Marks of the Church.” He listed seven of them, and in brief they are: (1) Baptism, (2) the Lord’s Supper, (3) the forgiveness of sins, (4) the ordination of clergy, (5) the Holy Scriptures of the Bible, (6) the beauty of the liturgy (our communal prayers, praise, and thanksgiving), and—most controversially—(7) the Holy Cross.

This last Mark of the Church doesn’t mean that we symbolically slap the Cross on our stationery. Bearing the Cross means that the truest sign of Christ’s Church is our willingness to suffer for others, to be rejected by the world, to endure patiently and humbly the trials of a life spent in pilgrimage. The Cross reminds us that we discover God where we least expect to find Him: in the humble and the hurting.

Where there is no Cross, no forgiveness, no Baptism, no Table set for God to feed the hungry—there is no Church. But where the Word of God is proclaimed and the Blood of Christ poured out for the world, there, truly, the Church is One and Holy and Catholic and Apostolic, for Christ is with us still.

Adult Education for August!

This month St. Peter’s will be offering a series of weekly Adult Education Forums entitled “Lutheranism 101.” Each topic is designed to stand alone but also to complement the others, so that attendees needn’t worry about missing one. This would be an ideal introduction for new members, as well as a good overview for our entire community. We shall gather in the sanctuary on Sundays at 10:30 a.m., following worship and fellowship. Scheduled topics are as follows:

August 2^nd—The Bible: Story and Structure

August 9^th—The Church: Her Mission and Marks

August 16^th—3 ½ Lutheran Answers to Every Question

August 23^rd—Worship at the Elders Home; No Adult Ed!

August 30^th—Liturgy and Life